Triumphrat

Bodger · 10-29-2005

I was a bit worried about the size and stroke of the Tiger shock, but there was one going on Ebay and the bloke took a best offer of £30.00 when it was priced at £60.00. So i thought i would give it a go.
The ride is spectacular, even better than the zx6r shock i had fitted.
The Tiger shock lifts the rear end of the bike quite allot but that just enhances the TBS forks i have. The bike looks much bigger and the seat hight is taking a bit of getting used to. The back wheel now looks too small, Its a good job i had already bought some Trophy 1200 wheels to do up and fit over the winter!

Spooner · 10-29-2005

Quote:

On 2005-10-29 14:53, Bodger wrote:
I was a bit worried about the size and stroke of the Tiger shock, but there was one going on Ebay and the bloke took a best offer of £30.00 when it was priced at £60.00. So i thought i would give it a go.
The ride is spectacular, even better than the zx6r shock i had fitted.
The Tiger shock lifts the rear end of the bike quite allot but that just enhances the TBS forks i have. The bike looks much bigger and the seat hight is taking a bit of getting used to. The back wheel now looks too small, Its a good job i had already bought some Trophy 1200 wheels to do up and fit over the winter!

Pics please!
When you fitted the Kawa shock, was it without any special tinkering?

rickykarate99 · 10-29-2005

I just added the K&Q seat and love the extra seat height. Already had the Hagon with some extra preload to raise the seat height as well. It finally feels like the descendant of the spritely 70's bonnie. (but I'm 6' -- I understand the low stock seat is nice for the short-of-inseam).

Bodger · 10-29-2005

Quite allot of tinkering:
Battery moved
Shock drilled to 10mm @ bottom
couple of washers to take up the slack at the bottom u mounting.

Good shock though, worked well but the pre-load was almost fully screwed down as i am 210lb and take a pillion on occasions.
I also needed the extra hight to go with the TBS forks.

Pictures to come soon, but i am a bit busy at the moment and the bits are all back on the bike.

some pics on my album page under Bodger.

[ This message was edited by: Bodger on 2005-10-29 15:44 ]

johnyC · 10-30-2005

Bodger,

I'm very interested in this mod' too, since I'm 17 stone in my 'Y's. With a passenger like my son (he's a size bigger) plus bags, that comes to about a quarter of a ton. I've already had a row off Mick for putting my TBS through this, but to stop the bottoming out of the shock I wound the spring pre-load up as far as it would go a couple of years back. Nothing's broken yet, but after a two up tour of Norway this year I had a new rubbing strip worn through because the suspension was nearly fully compressed all the time. This might be the bodge I've been looking for :-D

[ This message was edited by: johnyC on 2005-10-30 01:21 ]

cafetbird · 10-30-2005

Get a shorter spring from a bone yard, and you will fix the height issue. I did this with the '02 Daytona shock I fitted to my 'Bird.

That geometry on the rear end really messes up the rideability with the rear end thrown in the air that far - needed a steering dampner to have any decent handling if you keep it that way. The S3 dampner works quite well.

Bodger · 10-30-2005

Only took the bike out for a short ride after doing the mod, about half an hour. The handling seemed very good even considering the fork are still 10mm through the yolks. Didn't have any wobbles or cornering concerns. I am running a 170/60 on a 17" rim. The pre-load is about 2/3rds wound down and the static sag is about 20 to 30mm (this is a guesstimate), so theres plenty left. the seat hight is not a particular problem as i am 5'10" but the side stand and center stand might be, as i say i have yet to test it thoroughly.

Edit: I have been reading posts on the tiger forum, and the general consensus is the 955, 955i and later shocks are naff(just like the TBird ones). Just to clear things up, the shock i used is a 1996 885 tiger shock which has the three separate adjustments, pre-load, rebound and compression. The later ones seem to have slightly different setups.

[ This message was edited by: Bodger on 2005-10-30 17:22 ]

cafetbird · 11-02-2005

Quote:

Edit: I have been reading posts on the tiger forum, and the general consensus is the 955, 955i and later shocks are naff(just like the TBird ones). Just to clear things up, the shock i used is a 1996 885 tiger shock which has the three separate adjustments, pre-load, rebound and compression. The later ones seem to have slightly different setups.

Not true for my '02... it is fantastic on the T-Bird, and much, much better than the stock T-Bird. It also has three separate settings for pre-load, rebound and compression. You have to keep in mind that for a very limited amount of time, the Daytona had a dual sided swing arm (during '02) this gave a totally different shock than the one most folks discuss in the 955 area, which is genreally the single-sided model. The dual-sided shock is also the one run on the Sprint RS. I have a Sprint ST running the SS shock, and that one is adequate, but could certainly be improved. However, I took it on a track day, and found with its' complaint nature, I was able to out manuever the sporties through the rougher surfaces on the track...

Your sag settings may be the trick on that Tiger shock... it's probably dropping quite a bit when you sit on the bike, eh? That could make chain adjustment interesting....

Bodger · 11-02-2005

I don't know what i am talking about really, concerning the difference between shocks from other models.
The feeling i got from the tiger forum is that the later tigers have shocks with different controls than the 885 version and they don't seem to be as adjustable.
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quote:
Your sag settings may be the trick on that Tiger shock... it's probably dropping quite a bit when you sit on the bike, eh? That could make chain adjustment interesting....
quote:
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You are absolutely right about the sag and the drop!
The chain is now quite slack so i was thinking it was a good time to fit the 55 tooth sprocket i had bought a while back.
Question is how to adjust the chain or perhaps where to adjust it.... I thought perhaps it would be better to adjust the chain when sat on the bike so as to give a 25mm to 35mm slack? It is a dilemma to be sure!

cafetbird · 11-02-2005

Yep, you would definitely want to adjust the chain with a load in the saddle now. A 55 tooth gear?? Wow - that is up a lot from a 43 tooth stocker! Sounds like wheelspin city!

:-D :-D :-D